Tuesday, April 03, 2018

Possible?

As a medical student
in 1970s I remember the excitement of being taught, with fellow medical
students, by a consultant neurologist. He said “You’re about to see a
remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime case.” In came Vera with her husband,
& she had no short-term memory. Apart from this she seemed physically fit.
We were asked to guess the diagnosis. We had no idea, this being completely
outside our experience of both life & medicine. The consultant said “I
think this is a case of dementia, probably due to Alzheimer’s disease. Remember
that name. If you can hold that in your head for finals, you will impress your
examiners.” We travelled home repeating the word “Alzheimer’s” so it would
stick in our memories. Alzheimer’s has now become a household word. But why?
There has to be an environmental explanation. Indeed, the World Health
Organisation tells us that Alzheimer’s Disease is 5% genetic & 95%
environmental.